-･- From My Everyday Life to Japanese Culture -･- Why don't you see the real Japan, not the typical foreigners' version.

Some visitors mistakenly thought that the summer festival in Azabu-juban last month was a shrine festival. However, it was just a promotional event of Azabu-juban shopping street (麻布十番商店街).

Our matsuri (祭: an annual festival of Shrine) is held today and tomorrow (September 11 and 12).

Matsuri is a special festival held by a Shinto shrine (神社) and the people in a community.It’s believed that Shinto deities or gods visit people to communicate with them during the festival. Mikoshi (神輿) is an ornate palanquin-like portable shrine in which the deity is believed to ride. Matsuri events are held to welcome the deities who are related to the community and ask them for prosperity and good harvests.

My sister and I help the operation work of matsuri for our neighborhood association every year, and we are busy over the coming days.

The main event is “Associational Mikoshi Parade (連合神輿巡行)” on Sunday (September 12). In the parade, six large mikoshi of six neighborhood associations will march through Azabu-Juban from 14:30 14:00 to 17:00.